The present invention generally relates to a method and system for processing data, and, in particular, to a method and system for grouping data provided by a global positioning system.
Many companies today employ field representatives to provide services to remote locations. The field representatives spend a significant portion of their work time driving from one job site to another. These companies are faced with the challenge of making the most economical use of the field representatives"" valuable work time by minimizing their travel time between job assignments. Thus, it may be desirable to monitor the field representatives"" work time in order to determine how efficiently they are being utilized. Information gained from monitoring may provide guidance on how to improve the use of their time. However, because field representatives spend most of their time at remote locations away from direct observation, the monitoring of their movements may be difficult to accomplish.
One way to monitor field representatives is to equip fleet vehicles with global positioning system (GPS) equipment. The GPS periodically reports vehicle""s position to a central office. The position information may be used to optimize the allocation of job assignments. One problem faced with the use of GPS in fleet vehicles is the difficulty associated with manually processing data supplied by the GPS units to evaluate work performance as well as providing guidance on how to make the most economical use of field representatives. During the course of a working day, a GPS system associated with a fleet vehicle may generate large quantities of data regarding location and velocity of the vehicle. If the amount of data supplied by one GPS unit is multiplied by the number of fleet vehicles employing GPS, it is easy to recognize what a resource intensive process it would be to manually analyze the data. Not only is the manual processing of the GPS data time-consuming, but it may be subject to human error.
The inventor has recognized that data reported by a global positioning system (GPS) may be processed to identify certain information. When the positional information of a movable object is periodically collected, certain processing operations may be performed in order to identify time intervals during which the movable object is stationary and time intervals during which the movable object is moving.
The present invention is directed to a method and system for collecting and analyzing positional data to facilitate monitoring of a movable object. The system may include a GPS unit located on the moving object, such as a service truck, which collects and stores positional data. The GPS unit may include a GPS receiver which generates positional information, such as latitude and longitude, of the movable object on a periodic basis. Also included in the GPS unit may be a memory which stores the positional data supplied by the GPS receiver. Based on the positional information supplied by the receiver, the system identifies time intervals during which the movable object is moving and time intervals during which the vehicle is stationary. The collecting, storing and processing of the GPS data may be performed by a single device or by separate devices.
In one aspect of the invention, the system described herein may be used to monitor a fleet of vehicles as they move from one location to another. The GPS information may be grouped into moving segments indicative of a vehicle traveling from one location to another and stationary segments indicative of a vehicle being stopped at one location for an extended period of time. The derived moving and stationary segments may be useful in determining whether the vehicles or the field representatives operating the vehicles are being effectively utilized. This may be accomplished by comparing the percentage of their time spent moving and the percentage of their time spent stationary. The stationary segments may provide useful insight into behaviors and habits. For example, the stationary segments may represent trouble spots where problems arise frequently or may also represent unusually long breaks taken by field representatives. The stationary segments may also serve to indicate that additional training is needed. For example, the processed information may indicate that a particular field representative is making frequent visits to a particular location, e.g. the company""s parts and equipment pickup facility. Such frequent visits may suggest that the field representative needs further training, for example, to better anticipate what parts and equipment will be required to complete the assigned services.
In another aspect of the invention, the grouping process may be accomplished with a computer system remotely located relative to the GPS unit. The data collected by the GPS unit may be transferred to the remotely located computer system, using a number of different modes of communication. For example, a wireless communications network may be utilized to periodically transfer the stored data from the GPS unit to the computer system performing the analysis. In this case, both the GPS unit and the remotely located computer system have wireless data communications capabilities to transmit and receive wireless signals to/from each other. Alternatively, the collected data may be copied onto a data transfer medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk, and manually loaded onto the remotely located computer.
In a further aspect of the invention, the system may utilize a GPS receiver which is capable of providing velocity information as well as geographic positional information. The velocity information provided by the GPS receiver may be recorded along with the positional information. The velocity information is used by the system to facilitate identifying moving and stationary segments. In addition to the velocity information, time information, representative of the time associated with corresponding positional and velocity information, may also be included in the GPS data. The time information serves to indicate the times of the day corresponding to the start and end of stationary and moving segments or measurement of relevant intervals.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the grouping process may be performed by a grouping module which is part of the computer system. The grouping module may be configured to identify stationary segments by examining each portion of GPS data sequentially. First, the processing module may identify consecutive portions of the GPS data which are associated with the vehicle moving at less than a predetermined velocity. Next, the processing module may calculate a time interval corresponding to each of the identified portions of consecutive GPS data. If the time interval exceeds a predetermined time interval, such identified portion of GPS data is recognized as a stationary segment. The processing module may recognize stationary segments by recording a start time, an end time and a location corresponding to each of the identified stationary segments. The grouping module may also recognize moving segments by recording start and end times and locations corresponding thereto, based on the time and location information associated with previous and subsequent stationary segments. In this regard, the grouping module allows a computer to analyze large quantities of data, summarizes the data into a desired format, which provides for a more simplified analysis of the performances of field agents.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the system described herein may be used to monitor any movable objects. The present system has application to substantially any situation where positional information is periodically available and where it is desirable to distinguish stationary segments from moving segments. For instance, the present system may be used in tracking the behavior and habits of an animal. A GPS receiver may be attached to the body of the animal to periodically collect positional and velocity data of the animal as it moves from one location to another. In this way, the present system facilitates processing the GPS data to provide further insight into the behavior and habits of the animal by allowing a user to readily observe the location and time of the day the animal rests, as well as the travel paths between resting intervals.
In yet another aspect of the invention, other types of information may be obtained from the vehicle in addition to the positional information. One example may be the on/off status of the ignition system of a vehicle. This information may be useful in determining time intervals during which the vehicle is stationary. In this case, the GPS unit may be operatively coupled to periodically receive information pertaining to the on/off status of the ignition system and store the received ignition status information in the memory thereof. The grouping module may be configured to assume that the vehicle is in a stationary mode whenever the ignition is turned off. Accordingly, at least the time intervals associated with the ignition being off may be recognized as stationary periods. In one embodiment, when the vehicle is parked with the ignition off, the GPS unit may be programmed to collect one more GPS data point and to turn itself off in order to avoid exhausting the electrical power supply of the vehicle. For purposes of reporting its current location upon arrival at each job site location, the GPS unit may be configured to automatically transmit the GPS data to the central office via a wireless communications network each time the vehicle is parked with the ignition off.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the grouping module processes large quantities of GPS data and presents the output results in a predetermined format. In one embodiment, a report is generated based on the identified stationary and moving segments. The report may include information regarding start and stop time and locations of each of the moving and stationary segments. The report may also contain other relevant summary information such as the percentage of the time each field representative spends driving between work sites versus the time spent performing services at the work sites. The identified stationary and moving segments may also be displayed on a map with symbols drawn on the map corresponding to the locations of the stationary segments and/or moving segments. Each of the symbols may be labeled with corresponding start and stop times in order to indicate when each stop is made and the duration thereof. The moving segments may be represented by travel paths plotted between the symbols using the positional information obtained by the GPS unit. In this regard, the user may draw analytical conclusions about how effectively service representatives are being utilized based on the information derived by the grouping module.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the grouping program may include a user interface which allows for selection and changing of the predetermined parameters used in the program. In this way, a user may adjust the parameter values such that the output results obtained from the grouping program most accurately reflect the actual facts with regard to stationary and moving segments. The user interface may be further configured to permit the user to select the way in which the output results are presented.